bathysphere

[ bath-uh-sfeer ]

noun

, Oceanography.

1. a spherical diving apparatus from which to study deep-sea life, lowered into the ocean depths by a cable.

bathysphere

/ ˈbæθɪˌsfɪə /

noun

1. a strong steel deep-sea diving sphere, lowered by cable

bathysphere

/ băth′ĭ-sfîr′ /

1. A hollow, spherical steel diving chamber in which people are lowered by cable from a surface vessel to explore the ocean depths. In 1934 a bathysphere carrying William Beebe and an associate reached a record depth of over 923 m (3,028 ft). Because space in the bathysphere is cramped, dives longer than three-and-a-half hours are intolerable, and it was eventually supplanted by the bathyscaphe .

Word History and Origins

Origin of bathysphere¹

First recorded in 1925–30; bathy- + -sphere

Example Sentences

The two foundations announced Wednesday that poet Arthur Sze’s “The Glass Constellation,” Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s novel “Digging Stars” and Brad Fox’s nonfiction “The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths” have been cited as works that “deepen readers’ understanding of science and technology” and “highlight the diversity of voices” in modern science and technology writing.

From Seattle Times

While ““The Bathysphere Book” is the only winner you could officially classify as science, all three works draw upon science and the natural world.

From Seattle Times

Like Beebe in his bathysphere, Casey is captivated, and she ably describes the scene for so many of us who will never experience it: “Everything shimmered with a languid beauty, an uncanny gentleness, an amniotic calm.”

From Scientific American

Nearly a century after the bathysphere's voyage, it's often said that we know more about deep space than about the depths of our own planet.

From Scientific American

The first bathysphere made its initial descent off an island in Bermuda on June 6, 1930, lowered into the Atlantic Ocean by a shipboard winch.

From Scientific American